


Determination

by angel1876



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-01-25 08:06:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12526804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angel1876/pseuds/angel1876
Summary: Unlike what most might think, Determination is not always a positive trait, nor does it promise good intentions.Determination, at it's core, is a tool. It can be used for great things, this is true, but it can also be used for acts of evil best left unspoken.There are two things every monster knows about humans. The first is that humans are able to create and tolerate the substance within themselves, a biological trait no monster shares.The second thing is that even the weakest, smallest human can be stronger than the most fearsome monster through Determination alone.





	1. _____

The blankets are warm and comforting. This, combined with the low light of the room, conspire against you. 

Even now, you can feel your eyelids droop, a sleepy pressure settling in all throughout your body. You yawn, head lulling back against the headboard instead of the pillow. If you stay like that, you're sure you'll have a stiff neck in the morning.

Still, you don't move. It would take up energy you didn't have to spend. 

Footsteps approached your bedside, and you knew who it was without having to look.

The weight of him settled in at your side, skeletal hands bringing you down to lay in a less straining position. 

You breathed out a sigh at the familiarity of the contact. Despite what the word 'monster' might imply, you knew you were safe with him. The royal scientist.

Gaster.

"Human," he said, and despite your tired haze, you opened your eyes to look up.

Soft flames gazed down at you, flickering in a gentle, pleasant matter. This man's version of a smile.

Your lips twitched in an effort to smile back, but you didn't quite make it. He chuckled, a low, delighted sound.

Gaster's fingers frond your own, wrapped around your hand, toyed with your knuckles. The movement was more than enough to keep you tethered to the waking moment.

"Human, have I ever told you about the war? Between humans and monsters?"

"...no." you murmured.

He tightened his grip, just a little.

"It was a long time ago. Before you were alive. Before your parents were alive. Before your grandparents were even thought of. It's about your species and mine. It's about how monsters found themselves trapped behind the barrier. But mostly...it's about pair of children, and what happened to them. But I get ahead of myself. Human...let's start at the beginning."


	2. Act One - Chapter One

"Darling! Sweetheart, really, it's five after ten already! Beauty sleep is one thing, but it's almost afternoon!"

You gave an unhappy groan, blinking your eyes open to look at the door through which Mettaton called through. For a moment, you didn't move, half tempted to roll over and go back to sleep, but another loud series of knocks and a second call of, "Can you hear me? Are you awake?" told you that more rest wasn't going to be an option.

"I'm up, I'm up! Hold on..." 

You pulled yourself up out of bed, taking a moment to stretch, the joints in your back popping as you arched it first one way, then the other. Muscles buzzing themselves awake, you threw on a fresh set of clothes, a simple shirt and a set of jeans, and you put you pajama's on the bed for later use. Once that was done, you made a quick trip to the bathroom to deal with your teeth, interrupted halfway through by yet another knock at the door.

"Are you sure you're awake? Dear Alphys is going to eat without you if you don't hurry up. As it is, you'll probably end up with lunch rather than breakfast."

You'd complain that it was much too early in the morning to be dealing with all this activity, but...he did have a point. Ten already. You'd planned on being up a few hours ago. It wasn't unreasonable that they'd want you to get a move on. Then again, Mettaton could have come to wake you up a few hours ago, and if you knew Alphys like you thought you knew Alphys, that meant she must have gotten involved in something that kept her distracted until now.

That was the life of a scientist, after all.

And, you thought to yourself, it was also the drawbacks to lacking a proper alarm clock, something everyone involved could attest to. 

Finished with your teeth and ready to get the day started, you opened the door, greeted with the sight of the energetic robot in front of you, the lights of his monitor flashing yellow and orange. On either side of the frame, your guards stood, a necessary precaution, given your situation there at the lab. You waved at them, and they nodded in return before leaving their post.

"Hey," you said, your tone brightening the further away from sleep you were, "Sorry I'm late. How's your morning going?"

"Oh, you would never believe what dear Alphys has been doing!" Without skipping a beat, he took your arm in his, like an escort, and started rolling down the hall. "She found a new battery for my android body. It actually lasts more than ten seconds when powered up! Granted, that's not nearly enough for a star like me to shine, but it's a step in the right direction. She's been working on it all morning, and she told me it's not going to be long before she gets it up to ten minutes! Ten glorious minutes! Isn't that fantastic, darling?"

You smile at him, "Of course. I'm sure your fans will love it, Mettaton."

Not that you had any idea what his android body looked like. He'd insisted on keeping it under wraps until it could be completed, something which seemed to be hampered by an endless series of setbacks. It was a complected process, even for one of the top scientists of the underground. The fact that she'd been able to build an android at all was astounding, given the technology you were used to above ground.

(Which made the absence of alarm clocks even more jarring, to be honest.)

He led you down past the winding hallways of the lab into the cafeteria. As you went by, here and there, scientists paused to greet you. You returned that greeting in turn, and it was a much more pleasant encounter than what you'd had when you'd first come to the underground.

As a human, the monsters around you tended to want to hunt you. It wasn't something you could blame them for, given what humans did to them, locking them all up down here, but not a fun experience for you nevertheless. Your first few days in this place were a terrifying rush for survival and escape. You still carried some of the scars.

But then you reached the lab, and that changed. They took you in and protected you, offered you a safe place. Gaster disagreed with Asgore's No-Human policy, and though he was the royal scientist, he made it quite clear that he disliked the king's methods.

It was rough going at first, and even now, you were under close watch, both for your own safety and for the safety of the monsters around you. 

Despite all that, though, you'd adjusted. You'd made your home here, one that was better than your old one in every conceivable way. You had friends. You were happy.

The moment you stepped foot in the cafeteria, you spotted her. A bright yellow splash against the far wall, sitting at one of the tables. Alphys. A large talking dinosaur, and as such, easy to pick out from among the other monsters present when you knew what you were looking for.

She waved as the two of you approached. You took the seat opposite her while Mettaton moved the chair sitting in between aside, standing at the table. 

"There's your human, Alphys~ Would you believe they were still asleep at this hour?"

"Heh...well..." The scientist in question fidgeted with one of her sleeves. "T-that's fine! Everyone sleeps in sometimes...um...but uh...I-I hope that doesn't mean you-that you were having problems sleeping last night? I mean...if you did have problems getting to sleep, maybe-maybe I could help?"

The worried tilt to her voice and the way she looked at you brought a self conscious flush to your face. Looking down, you covered your hand with your mouth, a smile reflexively tugging at the corners. "It's...it's fine, really. I was a bit restless but it happens. Thank you for being concerned."

This was the part that always got you about being down here. These people worried about you. They wanted to make sure you were okay, and knowing that, you felt your heart swell with warmth, though you also kind of wanted to hide under the table and hope they forgot you were there. It just...wasn't something you were used to.

"If...um, if you'd like, human, I could...there are several herbs out there that promote sleep. I could make you some tea with them! If...if that would help...if you wouldn't mind..."

Swallowing, you lowered your hand to smile at her, dragging your gaze upward to look at the area around her mouth rather than at everything but Alphys herself. "I'd like that. Please and thank you?"

Her smile could have lit up the room.

"I-I'll get right to it! Once uh, once my projects are done for the day. I can't- I uh, I can't promise getting the tea to you tonight, but...but I'll get it to you by tomorrow! Promise!"

"Thank you, Alphys."

"A-anytime!"

"Enough about tea," Mettaton interjected, interlacing his fingers together, leaning forward. "Doctor Alphys, tell them about the improvements you've made to my android body!"

"O-oh. Well, you see..."

Alphys started telling you about said improvements, but unfortunately, you didn't understand most of what she was talking about. It was fine, you were used to the technobabble at this point, and indeed, you enjoyed watching the two of them get excited about these things. As she went on, Mettaton piping up with comments and occasionally prompting her to go into further detail about certain components, it was more than clear that this was something they were both heavily invested in. 

About halfway into the conversation, one of servers came by with coffee for you both, and a plate of eggs, toast, and a dish of fruit each. Alphys must have ordered for you before you got there to cut the waiting time. After thanking the server, you set to getting one of the eggs on a piece of toast, spearing the yolk to smear it across the bread before eating.

Mettaton didn't need to eat, so it was just you and Alphys, but he was willing to share his company all the same. 

While the two of you worked your way through breakfast, she continued her explanation of how her new network system helped the servos to align and how that put less strain on the electro-magnetic system, and...

From a door on the far side of the cafeteria, the royal scientist emerged.

The door led downstairs to places unknown. There were several parts of the lab that you weren't allowed in without supervision, and there were a few that you weren't allowed in at all. One of those places forbidden to you was the basement resting under the building. So of course, when you saw someone coming in or going out of it, you couldn't help but glance their way.

Gaster was a tall man. Thin, bone-y, as expected from a monster that was literally a six-foot-eight skeleton. He wore a lab coat, one that he brushed off with his hands after closing the door behind him. His eyes, two tiny colored fires dancing within his sockets, glanced from one end of the room to the other, soon settling on your little group. Upon seeing the three of you, he made his way over.

"Hello Alphys," he greeted her first, brushing fingertips along her shoulderblades as he passed her on the way to the one remaining chair, "Mettaton. Human. Mind if I join you?"

"O-of course, Gaster! Go ahead." Alphys said, her tone bright at the presence of one of her best friends.

"Thank you." he said, before sitting down. He reached a hand toward yours, and you took it, feeling him squeeze your fingers for a brief moment before withdrawing. 

"Dr. Gaster, darling!" Mettaton greeted, switching to sign language without missing a beat. "How have you been?"

The orange and blue flames flickered lightly as Gaster answered, also in sign. "I've been well. As I hope you can say, too?"

"More than well! It's been a fantastic week! My new show kicked off with flying colors. I have four viewers right off the bat!"

As they signed back and fourth, you did your best to follow along. It was good practice. While Gaster was skilled at lip reading, it was always, always easier when the people he was speaking to knew sign language. Throughout your time there, you'd been practicing the skill with anyone willing to help you out, though you've far from mastered it. 

While the three of them fell into conversation, you watched, absently digging into your fruit cup. Mettaton discussed his new program at length, as he did with you the day it aired. Complete with all kinds of background information that you wouldn't get from watching the show itself. You and Alphys watched his programs together, but Gaster wasn't so up to date, so Mettaton took his time in providing an overview to make sure everyone was as caught up as possible.

The server came by to ask if Gaster needed anything, and you lightly tapped his shoulder when he started to refuse.

"When was the last time you ate?" you asked. When he spent more than five seconds thinking about it, you pressed. "I think you should get something. Even if it's just some toast."

He laughed quietly, those eyes flickering again, "Alright, human." Turning back to the server, he said, "I think I'll have the same thing they had."

The server nodded, writing it down on a pad before heading off.

Gaster turned back toward you. "That reminds me. Human, do you mind coming to my office after this? I have something I'd like to look into."

"Of course, I'd love to."

"Great. Thank you, human." He reached for you again, brushed his fingers down your arm briefly, before returning to the conversation anew. "So, Mettaton, what plans do you have for the next episode?"

Your face flushed a little as you pressed your own hand to the spot he'd just touched, warmth lingering still. Strange that a skeleton with no body heat to speak of would leave warmth behind when he touched you. 

Realizing that you cup was empty(when did that happen?), you nudged your plate away from yourself and enjoyed the company of the three people you were the closest to in this place.

Falling into the Underground, ironically, had been the best thing to ever happen to you. 


End file.
